‘Vampire Academy’ Trailer: Half-Human, Half-Vampire Fun for YA Crowd

Post Harry Potter and Twilight, there has been a steady amount of young adult novels that have made the jump to the big screen. Tellingly however, the vast majority of them haven’t done enough with their first installment to justify sequels – with The Hunger Games franchise proving to be the only notable exception in this regard.

One of the next book series to get the silver screen treatment will be Vampire Academy; based on Richelle Mead’s bestselling novels, the film will see relative newcomer Zoey Deutch play a half-human/half vampire teenager who attends a secret boarding school for vampires.

Check out the new trailer and read the synopsis below.

VAMPIRE ACADEMY tells the legend of Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch) and Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Fry), two 17-year-old girls who attend a hidden boarding school for Moroi (mortal, peaceful Vampires) and Dhampirs (half-vampire/half-human guardians). Rose, a rebellious Guardian-in-training and her best friend, Lissa—a royal vampire Princes—have been on the run when they are captured and returned to St.Vladamirs Academy, the very place where they believe their lives may be in most jeopardy. Thrust back into the perils of Moroi Society and high school, Lissa struggles to reclaim her status while Rose trains with her mentor and love-interest, Dimitri (Danila Kozlovsky), to guarantee her place as Lissa’s guardian. Rose will sacrifice everything to protect Lissa from those who intend to exploit her from within the Academy walls and the Strigoi (immortal, evil vampires) who hunt her kind from outside its sanctuary.

Directed by Mark Waters (and penned by his older brother Daniel), the footage features some significant story information in addition to a generous helping of action, comedy and drama. There are shades of many teen films past here, from the Harry Potter-esque setting to the female sassiness inherent in films such as Mean Girls (which was also directed by Mark Waters).

The seen-it-all-before setup notwithstanding, it all looks pretty fun, with the tone of the trailer indicating a more light-hearted pic than its contemporaries. The veritable mix of experience and youth in the cast is another encouraging sign. Deutch looks very confident in the lead here with some charismatic delivery, whilst the presence of Olga Kurylenko and Gabriel Byrne should also help pique interest.

Based on this early look Vampire Academy has the potential to not only satisfy fans of Mead’s prose, but to also draw in new audiences. It will likely be the latter that can help guarantee the franchise’s staying power.